Kill To Breathe
by Returntonormal
Summary: semi-hiatus. Haley's no normal human being and Nathan's no normal rockstar  note: revised the chapters, so they're a little different than before
1. One

A/N: Hello everyone. I'm finally back with a new story. It took me forever to figure out what to write down. And I got this idea that's COMPLETELY AU and totally different from a lot of stories for NH. It's also very new for me too. I'm not sure how much you guys will like this type of story, but I'm going to test it out. So hopefully you'll like it. It's a magical, fantasy, humorous type of story? I don't know what kind of genre that is, but it's somewhere in there. I'm just testing the waters with my writing. So hopefully it goes well and you all will like it! =) I also have another idea I'm thinking of writing, but not sure. We'll just see. Enjoy!

p.s. I have to thank my beta and best friend, Miranda, for helping me out with most of this chapter. =)

p.p.s I've researched some of the content in this story, so the "ideas" of these characters were from research, but this world I created is mine.

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><p><strong>KILL TO BREATHE: A Nathan and Haley story.<strong>

**Chapter 1.**

Nathan walked down the hall of one of the local music buildings in town as he tapped his drum sticks against his leg. He was listening to some of the songs on his mp3 player as he headed towards the practice room back stage. In front of him were a couple of his band mates and his best friends dressed in their typical performance outfits. They were all wearing white suits with black ties except the lead singer who usually wore more vibrant outfits than the rest of them. Today it was a pink checkered jacket and black pants.

They were all getting ready to perform for a large studio audience. Even though they did this plenty of times before, it still made all of them very nervous. Especially Nathan who's been going through a lot more than the other three members of the band. Adding to that, they haven't been in front of an audience for the last six months.

Once it looked like they were getting closer to their destination, the band's manager, Thompson, opened the door to the practice room and led them inside. He told them that they had about fifteen minutes to relax, practice, or whatever they needed to do before they were called up to perform for the broadcast. All of the guys nodded their heads in response and watched as Thompson stepped back out into the hall and closed the door behind him.

Nathan quickly jumped on top of the red sofa against the wall, lying on his back and continued jamming to the songs on his Ipod. Being the drummer of the band, he had to make sure he didn't mess things up for them. He was an important part of the group.

He looked around him, wondering what the guys were up to and found two of them hovering over the snack table. Not only was it packed with food and drinks, there were also tiny gifts and cards from fans stacked on it as well.

The other members who were munching away were Trent and Le. Trent was the lead singer and one of the guitarists of the band. He was tall with a long pale face and long brown hair that stopped right below his chin. He usually tied half of it up in a pony tail to give off that sensitive but manly look for his fans. Something about looking sensitive yet rough made all the girls squeal for some reason. Other than just trying to look like a girly man, he was the type of guy who really took care of the rest of his band mates. He made sure all of them were in the best health and were concentrating on their music. Trent was also the jokester of the group who played a lot of pranks on the guys. Him being the ring leader and all, he was allowed to do that without risking any chance of being kicked out of the group. Unless Thompson said otherwise.

Le, on the other hand, was a lot taller than Trent, maybe a little less than a foot taller than him. He played the bass in the group since he was enhancing his skills on the guitar. He had dirty blonde hair that swept to the side and had a little bit of a mustache going on above his upper lip. He also wore a pair of black framed glasses all the time since he hated wearing contacts. Actually, he was scared of putting two transparent plastic circles in his eyes. He believed that if he ever wore contacts they'd get stuck in the back of his head if he ever fell asleep in them. It was a story his aunt scared him with once when he was younger. Le looked a lot older than the rest of the group because of his physical attributes, but he was actually the youngest one out of all of them. He was also the gullible type. Every single time Trent had played a joke on him, he would fall for it. Le has stated many times that he wasn't going to fall for the next prank, but it never turns out that way.

Nathan glanced over at the vanity mirror where his closest friend Jay stood. He was the other guitarist and sometimes the pianist of the band. As usual, Jay was admiring his good looks once again. Nathan never knew a guy could pay attention to himself more than a woman. He had short, black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was well built unlike Le and Trent who were tall and lanky. When it came to his looks, he was the more confident one. To his belief, he thought he was the most popular one out of the band. Unfortunately, he was wrong about that. People found him overly cocky which was a bit of a turn off for most fans. But others don't mind it. Besides being extremely beautiful, he was actually really charming and probably the only person anyone could trust since he was pretty good at keeping secrets.

Nathan looked away from the guys and shut his eyes, avoiding any distractions that could jinx his performance and continued listening to the music from his play list.

It wasn't even a second after he closed his eyes when something suddenly hit him in the gut, making him jolt forward in shock. While looking down to see what it was, he could hear laughter at the snack table. He wasn't surprised to see Trent cracking up and pointing at him like a child. Glancing down, he noticed that it was a small rubber football that Trent, of all people, happened to throw at him.

"Damn it, Trent!" Nathan cried out, quickly throwing the toy back at him. With his quick reflexes, Trent caught it. "I was trying to concentrate!"

"Since I'm the leader of the band I demand you to relax a little bit. You already know how to play every song. We played the whole set yesterday. We even practiced last night."

Nathan removed his earphones and wrapped them around his neck and said, "There's nothing wrong with practicing a little bit more. I have to be perfect, you know."

"People makes mistakes. It's okay if you miss a beat. They won't care," Trent managed to say as he tossed the football towards Jay in order to stop him from looking at his reflection. The ball practically whacked him on the shoulder causing him to look away from the mirror. Finally.

Picking up the toy from the floor, Jay threw it even harder towards Trent's direction. "You know that Nathan's cautious about his reputation right now. You know that what happened a couple weeks ago."

"But they're his fans. They should still appreciate him despite what the rumors and those other idiots say. They should understand that Nathan's not a bad guy."

"Yeah, Nate. The fans still love you," Le stated, brushing crumbs off his mustache.

"Just take it easy," Jay added.

Listening to their supportive words was comforting, but it still didn't relieve him of the guilt and worry he held inside. It was just a few weeks ago when everything went down. So everything was still fresh. Articles were still being written and people on the internet were still actively talking about it. It wasn't over. He was sure that it wasn't going to be completely resolved anytime soon.

He thought that once reporters announced the incident, his agency and manager would cancel all of their activities. But they didn't which made it so much harder for Nathan to step out into the public like this. One mistake on stage, a boo could be shouted out towards not only him but to the whole band. Maybe not even a boo. Something else could happen to them. A fan might throw an item towards them while they're performing a song. It could injure them and completely ruin the rest of their career. Something like that scared Nathan because he didn't want his mistakes to be a burden for the rest of his band mates.

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><p>"Fascinating!" Haley gasped, dangling her feet over the ledge of an apartment building. She grinned happily, twirling her golden hair with her index finger. She did this often. Every day actually. Instead of dancing around in circles ordered by someone whom she calls Papa, she would stop for a few hours to observe the activity of everyone surrounding her.<p>

She sang softly to herself as she carefully pondered over what was going on across the street. A crowd of people were bouncing up and down, holding colorful flyers above their heads while they waited in front of a building. From where she sat, she could see that there was writing on the posters. It wasn't very clear for her to read, but that wasn't the problem. She couldn't understand what any of the writings meant. For years, she's yearned to apprehend the art of their language. But no one was able to teach her how to read the context of the signs she's passed.

For years, she's been invested in learning the ways of human beings since she wasn't one. She was what you would call a sylph. They were invisible, soulless spirits that lived and glided through the air. Being part of the sky, they were responsible for gathering the clouds, blowing wind, forming rain and snow, and helping the growth of plant life on Earth. It wasn't often people talked about sylphs. They barely existed in fairy tales because they were all invisible. Only ways to know they were present was to listen carefully to the wind.

Physically, sylphs had large eyes, angular faces and tall, slender bodies. Despite their charming looks and elegant movements, they were considered to be loners amongst all mythical creatures. And that was what saddened Haley the most about her life. She's lived for five hundred years, not aging at all physically, and all she's wanted to be was human. She envied their ways of living. Unlike her, they were visible to each other. They could form families and grow old together. They could even eat delicious food and listen to music of all kinds. They could feel deep emotions. And she wasn't able to do any of that because she wasn't like them . Not even a little bit.

"I'm not surprised to see you here, Haleyah," a low, seductive voice stated from behind her. Haleyah was her given name, but everyone called her Haley for short.

She turned around and found her silver haired friend standing there with her hands against her hips.

"Hey Sylvia," she greeted. "How was Jersey?" she questioned.

"Great. A little rainy," the curvaceous beauty replied, tip toeing lightly towards Haley.

"Typical Sylvia," Haley responded, turning her attention back to the crowd. Everyone was jumping up and down chanting words she's never heard. _Trent! Jay! Le! Nathan! _They sang the names over and over again as if it were part of a song. It seemed fun to do so Haley decided to join in as well. "Trent! Jay! Le! Nathan!"

"What in the world are you doing?" Sylvia questioned, watching as Haley mimicked the actions of the people, punching the air in the process.

"I'm chanting with them," she responded, smiling happily as she observed the crowd.

"I think you should stop chanting. You don't know what they're saying. It could be a curse or something," Sylvia advised, pulling Haley's arm back down to her side.

"That's ridiculous. They're humans not witches. They don't carry powers. I thought you knew that already."

"I did."

"Then what's the harm in copying them?"

Sylvia thought for a moment, but couldn't give her a particular answer. "I guess nothing."

Haley nodded and continued celebrating with the crowd. "I wonder what it would be like to be them."

"It would be difficult," Sylvia answered, observing her younger friend.

"It looks pretty easy to me!"

"Do you even know anything about humans?" Sylvia questioned, her arms folded across her chest.

Haley stopped punching the air and slowly turned to Sylvia with confidence. "Yes, actually. I know a lot about humans."

"How much is 'a lot'?"

"Um, I know that they each have . . . A full head of hair, a pair of eyes, a mouth -"

"Yeah, we all know that they have a face, but what else do they have, Haley?" Sylvia cut in.

"They can grow older and have children."

"You think growing old is a good thing?"

"I suppose so."

"You don't want to be like them, Haley. Trust me," Sylvia advised. "You wouldn't like it."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've lived longer than you. You don't know anything about humans."

"I've been observing them for years!"

"You've only seen them from above. Plus, you only watch what fascinates you. You haven't seen it all. So just trust me, Haley. You don't want to be like them."

"BUT-"

The silver haired beauty gave Haley a serious look before turning away. She disappeared without giving Haley a chance to respond. She hated when Sylvia did that. A few spoken words and poof, she's gone.

Despite the advice Sylvia tried to give her, it didn't stop Haley from wanting to be just like the people walking below her.

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><p>"Take a deep breath," Jay advised Nathan.<p>

They were all waiting behind the infamous red curtain with their instruments set up and ready. The audience's loud screams and applause could be heard from the other side. It made Trent and the other guys excited about the performance except for Nathan. He was worried about what was going to happen the moment the curtains opened. It was their first real activity since his scandal broke out. He truly hoped that it wouldn't end up badly like he imagined.

Nathan held the drumsticks tightly in his hands and drew out a long breath. As he glanced up, he noticed the leader of the band approaching him with his guitar strapped around his shoulders.

"Before they open those curtains," Trent began. "I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happens today, we're still going to be a band. If one of us goes down, we all go down together. We have each others' backs, okay? " he continued, placing his hand on Nathan's shoulder.

Nathan nodded. "It'll be alright, Nate. It will be," said Trent.

"Thanks, man."

"So let's do our best today!"

"That won't be a problem."

"Now that's what I wanted to hear," Trent stated with a smile and returned to his spot up front.

Soon enough, the MC in front of the curtains was announcing the next performance.

"We know them as one of the most popular rock bands in America. They've topped the charts several times in the last two years with their latest singles. They've even stolen the hearts of many fans out there. And today marks the their first performance in six months. So let's all welcome our next guest, Stained Heart!"

A roar of applause could be heard from the audience as the lights dimmed and the red curtains opened. The hearts of every musician on that stage were racing like crazy. They could feel the adrenaline flowing through their veins. And immediately, the entrancing sound of Trent's guitar could be heard. It wasn't long until the rest of the members began to play along with him as he sang the lyrics of the first song.

Nathan's hands were so sweaty from fear that the drumsticks were going to slip through his hands. Surprisingly, he played the drums like a champion, hitting every beat of the song and feeling the music like they were the only ones in the room.

It wasn't until the end of their performance when something happened. Something out of the ordinary.

In the middle of their third song, a strange man with a hat over his long black hair managed to hop on the stage. The guys were confused, but they continued to play, ignoring the man as he jumped and danced around like a crazy fan. They were used to crazy people hopping on stage while they performed. But it wasn't until the man approached Nathan when they started to grow concerned. The man had this crooked, devilish grin on his lips as he made his way towards the drums. Nathan decided not to let it distract him and continued playing, but the man decided to play along with him. He hit the symbols and the drums like a fool, smiling to himself as if he was enjoying it. It was like he was purposely trying to mess him up, to make him look like an idiot in front of the whole nation.

Nathan's jaw clenched as he continued to play his part, his grip tightening over his drumsticks. Trent looked back at him, trying to figure out what was going on, but Nathan was in his own world. He looked like he was going to explode any second. Trent could tell from the look in his eyes. They were dark and angry.

The leader continued to watch when suddenly the strange man found the guts to slap the sticks out of Nathan's hands, causing him to stop playing. It didn't take long for Nathan to jump out of his seat, over his own drum set, and tackle the guy on stage. In an instant, Nathan was throwing punches at the man's face, making his hat fly off his head. Nathan's blood had been boiling the moment the man touched his drums. He felt like he was mocking him for what he had done. For everything that happened in his life. Nathan wasn't going to just let the man loose. He had already lost control once, and nothing was going to stop him from losing control again.

Immediately, the guys dropped their instruments to stop Nathan from hurting the guy. Security quickly jumped on stage to break up the fight. Everyone in the crowd was concerned of the brawl happening before their eyes. As if Nathan's recent scandal wasn't already damaging enough.

It created havoc in the whole studio. Security had to push and pull all off the angry fans in the audience. There was no control nor end to the madness that this man created. The worst thing about it was the fact that it was a live broadcast. The whole incident was seen by all the people who were watching the program. It could not be erased. In order to put things back into place for the next performance, they cut to commercial and played an episode of one of the network's sitcoms.

"Nathan, Nathan, stop it!" Jay advised, pulling on Nathan's collar to get him off the man.

Security dragged the dark haired stranger off the floor roughly. Nathan couldn't quite tell who the man was, his hair was covering his bloody face. He had never met him in his life.

The guy wiped his lips and spat blood out of his mouth and said, "You enjoyed that, huh? Everyone saw what you did. Now they know what kind of guy you really are."

Nathan's eyes widened and tried to swing another one at him, but Jay stopped him. "Who the hell do you think you're talking to? You don't even know me!"

"Do you even know who you are?"

The drummer didn't say a word.

"Why haven't you ass holes taken him away yet?" Thompson cried out, pushing the security guards off the stage. "Now!" He turned around towards the guys. "Guys, go back to your dressing room. We'll take care of everything.

The members hurriedly grabbed their instruments and walked off stage except for Nathan who was still standing by his drums, dumbstruck from the current incident. He knew this was coming. The performance was going so well that he figured it couldn't be that easy. It was too perfect to be true. And he was right.

"Come on, Nate, let's go," Jay advised.

Nathan nodded, breathing heavily as he watched the security guards and the man disappear from the other direction. He glanced down and noticed that one of his drumsticks had broken in half. _Damnit. After taking a moment to pick up the pieces, Nathan glanced at the audience and noticed a familiar face in the crowd. He couldn't see her that well, but he knew it was her. _He stopped for a moment to observe her a little further. She was looking straight at him, but suddenly she looked away and started walking deeper into the darkness. She was leaving. He didn't want her to leave. He needed to talk to her. He needed to catch up with her.

"Nathan," Jay interrupted once again, pulling Nathan out of his thoughts. "We have to go."

"Okay," he replied, looking away from the crowd for a second. But when he glanced back to see the girl in the darkness, she was already gone.

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><p>"Haley! Slow down!" Sylvia cried out, following Haley up the mountain.<p>

"Either you've lost your ability to fly fast or you've gotten really old," Haley joked as she quickly climbed up to the very top, passing up many of her peers.

Sylvia clenched her jaw at that comment, even though she knew she was playing around, and caught up with Haley. At this rate, it wasn't really the time to be making jokes. She had to stop Haley from making the biggest mistake in her life.

It was decided an hour ago that Haley wanted to be human. She didn't want to keep wishing and wondering what it would be like to be them. So she concluded that the only way to make her dreams come true was to ask the Mighty King Paralda, also known as Papa, for permission.

"Papa!" Haley sang happily, approaching the white haired man standing calmly in the middle of the mountain top.

He glanced at her happily. "Haleyah," he smiled. It was always a joy to see her face in his presence.

Paralda seemed like he would be an ancient geezer with wrinkles and long white hair, but that wasn't the case. He looked more like a youthful man with silvery strands like Sylvia's, and his eyes were a bright blue, almost crystal-like. He's been alive for centuries and he hadn't aged a bit. Plus, he was strong. His arms were built like a God's. Well, he practically was one. Nonetheless, he was a very powerful being.

"Can I help you?" he questioned. He glanced past her shoulder and found Sylvia standing there with concern written on her face. It wasn't a surprise to him. He already knew the reason for Haley's arrival.

"Yeah, can we talk for a little bit?" Haley replied.

"Haleyah!" Sylvia stepped forward to grab her wrist before she could go any further.

"I need to talk to him," Haley replied over her shoulder.

"I'm trying to help you," she whispered. "Don't do it."

"It's my decision. Don't you want me to be happy?"

Sylvia observed the expression on her friend's face. She's seen it before, multiples times, and not once has it ever affected her until now. She felt a sudden heaviness on her chest. It wasn't a bad nor good feeling, but she knew that it meant something. Maybe it was a sign to help her realize that she should try to understand Haley's side for a moment.

Sylvia released her grip from her wrist and stepped back. "I'm just worried, that's all."

"Don't be," Haley advised.

Paralda glanced at the two women and waited patiently for Haley to walk to his side. Once she finally did, both of them vanished before Sylvia's eyes, making it impossible to bring Haley back. But they weren't very far. They actually didn't even move an inch. He casted a soundless invisible shield around them so their conversation couldn't be heard nor seen.

"So you wanted to talk to me?" he began, his arms folded across his chest.

"Yeah," she replied shyly, "I wanted to ask you about -"

"Being human," Paralda cut in.

Her eyes furrowed and she glanced at him curiously. "How did you know that?"

"I'm Papa, remember? I know what goes on in everyone's minds. You think about being human every day. Am I right?" he smiled calmly, still looking ahead of him.

Haley was shocked, but she knew she shouldn't be. Like he said, he was Papa. He had the power to understand what each and every one of them were thinking about.

"Yes, so you should know that I really really want this."

She heard him sigh heavily, his smile slowly fading. "Do you really hate being who you are?"

"No, I don't hate it. I just-," she paused, "I just feel like I would be a lot happier living down there."

Paralda slowly turned to her, finally meeting up with her bright eyes. It was always a stunning sight to see. She was the only one who made him feel terribly weak. Despite their differences in age and power, he admired Haley the most out of all the other sylphs.

"Why do you want to be human so badly?"

That was an easy question, she thought. She found herself smiling and started listing many reasons in her mind.

"Shouldn't you know?"

He chuckled for a moment and nodded. "But I want to hear it straight from you. What is so amazing about humans that make you want to be like them?"

"Everything," she smiled. "Whenever I look down at them, moving around like little ants, I can't help but think how beautiful they are. There's different colors and shapes of them. I am extremely envious when I see how free spirited and unique they are. They are able to do things I'm unable to do."

"And what's that?"

"They are allowed to form families."

"We're a family."

"But I want to make my own."

"I can make you a family."

"It's not the same." She shook her head.

Paralda nodded, trying his best not to argue with her. "What else?" he questioned.

"They can breathe the air I make. I want to understand the need for it. Why is it so important?"

Paralda observed her for a moment, thinking about her question. It was a difficult one to answer. The only way to truly understand it was to experience it. Explaining it wouldn't make any difference.

"And I want to learn how to love," she added.

Paralda stared at her hopelessly. Sylphs were born with no souls so they had no understanding of what true emotions were. When he created them, it was important that he'd leave out the two most tragic qualities any one could have. Falling in love and heart ache. That's because he didn't want it to distract or interfere with their work. If one were to experience such explosive emotions, the order of nature would collapse and it would be difficult to fix.

"There's a reason why you don't have that ability. It would be too much for you to handle."

"Please," she begged. "There's nothing more that I want than to be human."

He didn't know how to respond to that. His fears of seeing her in pain were spiraling in his mind. Sometimes he wished that he could look further in time to see what would happen, but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Haley was the most precious sylph he's created. She was unique and very important to the cycle. And to see her disappear from his sight and become human like the ones below, frightened him. But the way she was looking at him, he couldn't refuse.

"You really want to be human?"

"Yes!" she quickly replied.

"Then I'll tell you a way to be one."

"Really?"

He looked at her, searching for some kind of answer through her innocent, naïve eyes. "If that's what you really want."

"I really want it."

He nodded. "Alright then."

Haley smiled happily as she waited for him to continue.

"To be human, you have to be selfish," he finally spoke. "You have to be greedy. You must only think of yourself." He paused as he observed Haley's expression. She was grinning excitedly and he continued. "So in order to be human, you must take a soul of another. He must fall in love with you. He can't just say it and have it be done. He must feel it with everything inside of him and then profess his love to you. Do you understand that? "

"Yes," she replied excitedly. She was getting closer and closer to getting her wish.

"Do you really understand, Haleyah?"

"Yes, Papa, I do!"

"I know you really don't understand when I mean you have to only think of yourself. That's the hardest part about this whole thing, Haleyah. You can only think of _yourself_ to do this because this is what_ you_ want."

"I can try!"

Paralda sighed deeply, feeling a bit hesitant to continue. She was naïve. She truly didn't understand when he said that she had to be selfish. There was a lot to sacrifice to be human. He already knew that. But she didn't. There was only one way to realize that.

"Despite what may happen during this, you have to complete this task. If not, there will be consequences. And I will repeat that, you must complete this task in order for it to work. I never grant wishes for immortals to be mortals. For a sylph like you to be something like a human? I never heard of such a thing. You can be put out in a second because of what you are made of. You belong here. Not there. But if you really want this, the moment you begin, your options are minimal. That's why I'm asking you to make a decision that you're sure of."

Without a second thought, she said, "I'm sure."

She didn't think twice about it nor asked what her options were. Haley really wanted this. She wanted this even without knowing what was to come out of it. After hearing those words, Paralda held out his hand towards her. It was closed, but when he opened his palm, there was a silver necklace in the middle of it.

"Wow!" Haley exclaimed, beaming at the jewel.

"You need this," Paralda spoke.

Haley gently grabbed it and observed the crystal pendant hanging on it. "What does it do?"

"It slowly takes the soul of the human you're taking it from. Once you've already taken half of the soul, the crystal becomes brighter and brighter until it's complete.."

"So once it's full, it's mine?"

"Yes. Once you have the soul, you'll automatically become human."

She smiled happily at the jewel, knowing that this tiny little item was going to help her achieve her dream. It was bittersweet for Paralda to see her this content. He was overjoyed at the fact that he was able to grant her greatest wish, but he was also saddened that she chose this over everything else. He didn't have the heart to tell her the worst part about being mortal. But he was going to keep that a secret until the very end.

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><p><em><strong>Hmm, what do you think? Tell me your thoughts. =)<strong>_


	2. Two

A/n: I'm glad to see that there are some people who are interested in this story. I told you it was really different. I hope I didn't surprise you all too much. To answer your question, KT, Sylvia is nothing like the one in the show. She's supposed to be young looking with a mature personality. The chapters so far seem shorter than I usually write, but I'll start making them longer later. I'm thankful for all the nice reviews. I really hope to catch your interest more and more each chapter. Enjoy!

**Chapter 2.**

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><p>Thompson swung the door open as the four guys rustled inside their large hotel suite. Le headed straight to the fridge to snatch his organic fruit juice he's been hiding from Trent. Jay flicked him in the back of the head for the fun of it and headed over to the living room to place his instrument down. It wasn't long 'til Trent came running towards Le, effortlessly, just to put him in a head lock. Nathan ignored them and sat on the end of his bed, cupping his face in his hands. The night had been so stressful that all he wanted to do was kick his shoes off and go to sleep.<p>

"Get some rest, guys. It's been a long night," Thompson advised at the door. He watched over all of them and curiously noticed Nathan's quiet form. "And Nate, don't worry too much about what happened. We'll find a solution to this, but that stunt you just pulled might cost us a lot. I might have to postpone the band's activities because of it. "

Nathan took his face out of his hands and nodded, smiling at him half heartedly. Thompson took that as a sign to leave and walked out the door, leaving all four of them to care for themselves.

They were just at the broadcast studio thirty minutes playing their first song in the last six months, but it was ruined by a man wearing a cap. Thompson thought it was best that they leave the place. The fan meeting after the show was cancelled. But the other performances continued despite the hectic mess backstage. Security were still questioning the strange man. Some of the fans left, others stayed even though they were very angry. But the band couldn't stay. Knowing that the man targeted them, making Nathan lose control, made it unsafe for the guys. Who knew what was going to happen after that? Angry fans?

Nathan flopped backwards and started rubbing his eyes in frustration.

Jay peeked his head out from the other room and glanced at his best friend curiously. "You okay, Nate?"

"What do you think?" Nathan snapped. "Our comeback was ruined because of that ass."

Jay finished fixing his belongings, placing his guitar case at the corner near the window, and stepped into the bedroom. "Look, I know it's not easy right now. I mean, things are a bit out of control, but let's be strong about it."

"How can I be strong about it? That's impossible."

"Not impossible," Le managed to grumble as he tried his best to remove Trent's arms from around his neck.

"Look, if I can do it," Trent began, nodding at his head lock around Le. He wasn't exactly the strongest amongst the members, but to see that he could still hold a head lock in place was very impressive. "Then you can do it. And I'm a lanky, lanky man."

"Too lanky! Get off me!" Le cried out hoarsely.

"Give me your drink."

"Fine, fine, here." Le handed the glass bottle quickly to him, pleading for air.

"I punched the guy. I just made everything worse for us," Nathan replied.

"It was just a reflex. Let's think of it that way," Trent stated. "We're not going to blame you, Nate. It happened. We can't go back now."

"You just have to control yourself, Nathan. Or maybe like Thompson said, we should postpone our next shows until everything gets better," Jay advised.

Nathan didn't respond. Instead, he shut his eyes, trying his best to release his stress over what had happened and drew out a long breath. Maybe using a relaxing breathing method could help him ease his mind. But the image of the man jumping on stage, straight out of nowhere, and slamming his hands against his drum set kept replaying in his mind. It was the proud smile on the man's face that concerned him the most. Why was he so content about ruining his performance? Was this whole thing planned? Or was he just mentally ill and couldn't resist himself?

Not only was the man who ruined his performance bothering him, but the familiar girl he saw in the audience caught his attention. He wanted to know why she was there? Was she following him? And why did she suddenly disappear when they met each others' gaze?

Jay moved towards the sofa in the living area and placed his legs on top of the coffee table. Le weakly trudged over to him and sat on the opposite side of the sofa.

"You know what makes me a little curious about what happened today?" Jay questioned, rubbing his chin.

"What?" asked Le, who was massaging his neck after being put in a head lock.

"Why didn't security see him before he got on stage?" Jay questioned.

Everyone heard him and began to think deeply about it. Even Trent, who was busy downing the glass of organic fruit juice he managed to steal from Le.

"Well, to think of it, I didn't even notice him climb on stage. He just appeared," Le stated.

"He probably came from the back," Trent added, smacking his lips after drinking the last drop of fruit juice. Le sent him a silent sneer.

Nathan lifted himself on his elbows and questioned whether security knew he was there and let him pass on purpose or if the guy was just that quick and sneaky.

"That's a good question, Jay," Le stated as he grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the television.

The first thing that came on was the entertainment news about what happened at the broadcasting studio. A blonde news reporter was reading the papers she had in her hand, while a screenshot of Nathan's face with the mysterious hat man appeared at the corner of the screen.

"There was an unexpected incident at the AMD studio's tonight involving the country's most cherished band, Stained Heart, and a mysterious dark headed male. Sources say that he jumped on stage, without being seen, and started havoc with the band, but specifically drummer, Nathan Scott, by slamming his hands on his instrument. It wasn't long before Mr. Scott, himself threw a few punches at the man. The audience became angry, making it unsafe for the rest of the performers. Unfortunately, Stained Heart left the building before they could be interviewed about this situation. But it has been suspected by anonymous sources that this had something to do with Mr. Scott's scandal from a few weeks ago. There is no official evidence about this. It's been reported that security caught the man, but there are no details of his identification. It's very fortunate that no one other than the mysterious man was hurt. We'll keep you updated about this topic on the website on -" Le quickly changed the channel and turned to Nathan who did not look amused nor entertained about this at all.

Nathan's eyes were glued on the screen, his jaw and fists clenching. Thinking that this was all of his fault was enough, but to have the news announce this incident was connected with Nathan was worse. What does that make of him?

Trent strode towards him and said, "Don't listen to those anonymous sources."

"It's hard not to, considering what I've been through," he replied, sitting up on his bed. "I'm going to head out for a bit. Don't wait up," he stated, heading towards the closet to grab himself a cap and jacket.

"Nathan, it's late."

"Well not for me," he retorted, his back towards them as he put his leather jacket on and adjusted the cap.

Before any of the guys could run and convince him to stay, he was already out the door.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe he's asking me to do this," Sylvia complained.<p>

Her and Haley were standing in the middle of one of the national parks, which Paralda told them to go to in order to start Haley's journey.

"I can't believe _you're _actually doing this. Couldn't you have waited a bit longer to do this. This is so sudden," Sylvia continued, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the same time. The whole 'turning human' idea seemed ridiculous to her. It made no sense at all.

To Sylvia, being a sylph was an important role. Since the moment she was created, she was completely and utterly attached to who she was and what she was born to do. She was one of many who adored their position as an important element in the world. It wasn't until Haley was created when she realized that not everyone was alike nor perfect. Sometimes she'd call Haley the defected sylph, but that didn't stop her from growing closer to her.

"It's too late to convince me to stay now," Haley blurted out as she placed the jeweled necklace over her head. "I have this beautiful item to protect me."

Sylvia stepped over to glance at the dull looking jewel, which she noticed, did not shine nor glitter in her eyes. "What's so special about this?"

"It's going to help me become human," Haley answered, holding the gem in her palm. "I have to make someone fall in love with me for it to start working."

Suddenly she heard Sylvia chortle. "You have to make someone fall in love with you? You don't even know how to do that."

Haley scowled at her. "SURE I CAN!" she whined.

Sylvia looked away, unconvinced and let out a tired breath. "Are you sure? Because I can go tell Papa that you can't. I mean, do you even know what you're getting yourself into?"

"I'll take the risk."

"How about not taking the risk? How about that?"

"Stop it, Sylvia. I've made my decision. You can't make me change my mind. Just do what Papa told you to do so I can start," Haley ordered, growing tired of Sylvia's countless pleas to make her stay.

Sylvia still felt uneasy about doing this. It would've been fine if she wasn't ordered to do this by Paralda and he did the job instead ,but she couldn't refuse. She just didn't want to be the one who did it.

"I'm waiting," Haley stated impatiently.

The silver haired beauty sighed deeply, causing a gust of wind to blow past the tree branches. "Let me just say a few things before I do this, okay?"

"Okay," Haley replied anxiously.

"You know you're my best friend, Haleyah, right?"

"Yes, of course."

"You're such a good friend to me. It's not going to be the same without you by my side. I just want you to make sure you are making the right decision. Either right now or down there. You have to promise me that you'll be safe and won't get hurt by those humans."

"That's silly," Haley laughed. "They seem harmless to me, but I promise."

Sylvia wanted so much to convince to her that she was wrong. Haley had no clue what she was getting herself into. No matter how many times she's been asked if she was completely sure about this, her answer was always going to be yes. There was no turning back.

"Don't forget who you really are, Haleyah, okay?"

"I won't."

"You're a sylph. Remember that. But just in case you forget, just listen to the wind. I'll be there."

"Thank you, Sylvia."

"Alright, let's get this thing started."

The silver haired beauty closed her eyes and raised her arms up as she gathered air in her mystical arms, creating a violent column of rotating clouds around them. They were in the eye of a twister. It was silent and still as death. Haley kept her eyes opened and looked up, glancing at the opening at the top where streaks of light shone. Then she turned back to Sylvia whose eyes were now opened. She said, "This might hurt a little." Haley was suddenly confused for a second, unaware of what this "hurt" meant. Soon enough, Sylvia lowered her hands near her chest. Haley's breathing suddenly became difficult, closing her eyes in agony. She clutched the necklace around her neck and she felt a gust of wind blow against her body with a heavy pressure on her chest. Everything went black for a second until she started feeling something strange. She was shivering. Never in her 500 years of living has she ever felt this way before.

Her eyes fluttered opened and she found herself in the same place she started. She glanced at her fingers and noticed them shaking uncontrollably with a hint of cool air hitting against her skin. When she looked up, she noticed that Sylvia was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in front of her like she was a few seconds ago. It happened so fast.

"Sylvia?" Haley whispered, shocked to hear that her voice had deepened a little bit. It was completely different from her high pitched, fairy-like voice. "Sylvia, where are you?" Again, she was surprised to hear herself talking in the language she's always wanted to speak.

Repeatedly, she would call out for Sylvia ,but she heard nothing in response. But really, she was standing right in front of her. Haley couldn't see her because she was in human form. And it pained Sylvia to know that she couldn't be seen at all by the one person she called her best friend. So she did what all sylphs did when they were near a human. She swiftly flew passed Haley and whispered a few simple words in her ear.

"Good luck," she spoke.

Haley heard it over her shoulder and glanced behind her, but saw nothing. That's when she knew that Sylvia had already left her. The freezing cold air dispersed a little bit, but still left her freezing to death.

"Good luck," she repeated. Her gaze fell down to her bare chest where the crystal lay. She held it in her hand and rubbed her thumb gently against it. "I'm human."

* * *

><p>Some of the people at the bar were a little out of it. Ordering one drink after another without looking inside their wallets to see if they still had money was pretty irresponsible. Maybe it was because there were pretty, young ladies sitting beside them, persuading them to drink more and more. How could a man that old resist a woman wearing a short mini dress like that? Impossible.<p>

It wasn't long for another one of those girls to approach Nathan with a grin on her face.

"Hey. How can a handsome man like you be here alone?" she greeted.

Nathan looked down at his glass, trying his best to hide beneath his cap, and said, "I'm not alone. I have my pal, Jack, right here." He tapped his glass of whiskey. "So I'm fine."

"How about I join you guys?" she insisted, sitting in the seat next to him while hiking up her skirt a little bit.

He glanced at the bare thigh beside him and snorted. He wasn't impressed. It's not because he didn't think she was pretty, the girl was beautiful, but he saw her just a few minutes ago, talking to another guy - a man who looked like he was part of house of congress for that matter- with a drink in her hand. She was on top of his lap with her arm wrapped around him. The man was so drunk that he wasn't fully aware of the fact that she had stolen his wallet. So Nathan knew not to get too involved with the girl.

"I think I'm about done,"

"Aw, how about another glass? I'll buy," she smiled cheekily. He watched as she pulled out the wallet she had stolen out of her purse.

"No thanks. I think I might've had a bit too much."

"One more won't hurt."

He could see that the girl wasn't going to leave him alone, so his drunken mind decided to take control of the situation on it's own. He turned to the girl and nodded. "Okay, I'm going to say something, but please don't be offended by it. I'm not the kind of drunk who will let a girl like you buy me a drink. I mean you're pretty and all, but I think I'm smarter than that man over there," he stated, pointing to the middle aged man sprawled over the counter a few feet away from them. "Tomorrow, he's going to find himself waking up with a fucking painful head ache, while you go out on a shopping spree with the money in his wallet. Why would a pretty girl like you steal? Maybe because you're not worth a good man's time. If you were worth it, you wouldn't have to get a man drunk to get him to give you what you want. Do you really want to do that to yourself? Don't be cheap."

The woman's eyes widened as she clenched the dollar bills in her hand. "Excuse me?"

"Take my advice. Don't lower your standards to men like him. Find your own success," he replied. He glanced at his wrist watch and drank the rest of his whiskey. "Well, I have to get going. It was nice meeting you," Nathan stated, pulling out a few bucks to leave at the bar.

He turned around in his seat to lift his cap up a little bit, smiled at her, and walked away. It didn't take long for the woman to recognize his face. Her jaw was practically on the floor.

Nathan hurried through the crowd as soon as he heard her gasp and exited through the back door. Once he found himself outside, he glanced behind him to make sure she wasn't following him. He blew out a sigh of relief when she didn't appear and looked back in front of him.

He found himself walking down the wide alley that led him towards one of the parks across the street. A few people were hanging out, standing against walls and smoking a few cigs. He figured from the sound of electronic music from the building next door, that they were from that club. They all looked at him strangely. Probably wondering where he came from. But he ignored them and continued walking until he made it to the main sidewalk.

As he turned the corner, he noticed a line of people dressed in their club outfits. There were a lot, so it was possible he was near the most popular club in Charlotte. The light of the entrance was a bit bright, so he had to be extra careful not to be noticed by the large crowd. He pushed his cap down and quickly walked passed them. As did, he heard everyone gasp from behind him. He immediately thought he was caught, so he stopped in his tracks.

"What is she doing!" he heard a girl cry out.

He sighed in relief. They didn't recognize him.

_"OH MY GOSH!"_

_"What the hell are you doing!"_

Nathan quickly grew curious and glanced over his shoulder to see what the commotion was all about. Just like everyone else, he was surprised to see a bare naked woman standing by herself across the street. She had nothing but a jeweled necklace around her neck. From the way she was holding her arms to herself, she must've been freezing to death.

_What the hell is she doing_? he thought, wondering the exact same thing as everyone else.

"Is she crazy?" he heard another woman discuss with her boyfriend.

"I don't know," the boyfriend shrugged in response, but he didn't look too bothered by it, which gave him a whack in the head.

"Stop staring at her!" another one ordered.

"HEY! SLUT, GET SOME CLOTHES!"

"No, DON'T DO IT!" a male voice cried out.

Nathan observed the girl as she stood there confused. She didn't look like she fully understood what was happening. She looked lost, but also very amazed at the same time. Seeing her look like this was pitiful. It gave him flashbacks to the incident from two weeks ago. Remembering it made him angry.

_"SUCH A WHORE!"_

_"COME HERE, BABY!"_

_"I'LL KEEP YOU WARM!"_

_"GET OUT OF HERE!"_

The constant insults and disgusting words were making Nathan frustrated and annoyed. The blonde girl was just standing there, completely unaware of what to do. Shouldn't she be doing something about it? At least fight back? Walk away? But no. She was frozen. He wanted to go help the girl, but he didn't want to get himself involved in a situation like this and have it be broadcasted all over the news. But he couldn't leave the poor girl like that. He couldn't. So he turned around, looked left and right and made his way across the street.

Another man, dressed in a tacky green shirt, did the same thing and jogged up to the girl happily with a mischievous grin on his face, which bothered Nathan a little bit. So he pushed him to the side.

"Hey, I'll take care of her, man," the guy stated. "Don't worry about it." He was a few centimeters shorter than Nathan so he wasn't worried about him. Plus, his hair was greased back which made it even less intimidating. Could he have put anymore gel in that hair of his?

"Thanks for the offer, but it's not needed," Nathan replied. He removed his leather jacket and placed it around the woman. Again, she stood still and didn't even bother to help him put it on her. "Here, wear it for a while," he whispered against her ear.

The short man observed the two curiously and questioned, "Is that your girlfriend?" He pointed to the blonde.

Nathan furrowed his eyes and glanced at the lost woman. He noticed how strangely she was looking at his jacket as if she's never seen such a thing before. An amazed smile appeared on her face as she grazed her fingers on the zipper line of it. She giggled softly herself.

"Uh, yeah," he answered, looking away. "I'm sorry for the disturbance."

"Are you sure? I don't believe you."

"Well, you better believe it." He quickly strode towards the girl and held her in his arms. "Come on, let's go."

He pulled her away from the guy, with his arm around her shoulders to give off that 'coupley' appearance and walked away from the crowd. The girl didn't even look bothered by the fact that she was being taken away by some stranger.

He glanced down at her as he held her close. "Are you okay?" he questioned. Her lips were trembling. He assumed she was still very cold. But he noticed a small smile on her lips.

"I don't do this often, but it seems like it's becoming a pattern lately," he stated as they walked towards an isolated place. "You shouldn't be walking around without any clothes on like this. It's not safe for you. Those guys back there looked like there were about to cook you up."

She didn't respond. She was too busy beaming over the texture of the jacket.

"Uh, if you want, you can keep it," he stated as they turned the corner. Once they stopped under a broken lamp post, he removed his arm from around her and pulled his cap back down. The woman was still very naked under the jacket and he was fully aware of that. He was a guy after all. Her breasts were exposed in front of him and it was a big distraction from even starting a conversation. So he took a moment to zip up his leather jacket, which fortunately was long enough to cover her other assets. "There," he stated.

The woman glanced up at him, hesitating to remove her gaze from the leather fabric and met with his dark face. She couldn't quite see him from the way the shadow of the cap was covering his features. He was surprised that she didn't recognize him. She probably wasn't a fan.

"I don't know who you are, but this is how far I can take you," Nathan stated, observing his surroundings. "The place doesn't look dangerous, so hopefully you'll be okay. I'm a little drunk, so I can't fully take care of you."

She looked at him blankly, making him feel really uncomfortable. Maybe she was a mute and couldn't speak or maybe she was a foreigner and she couldn't understand what he was even saying.

"Can you speak English?" he questioned.

She furrowed her eyes and began whispering to herself. Then her eyes widened and she smiled, happily.

"Yes!" she answered.

He chuckled at her excitement. "Do you know anybody who can help you? Like any relative of some sort?"

"Relative?" she replied, confused.

"Family," he corrected. "Any parents or siblings?"

"No, I don't have a family."

Nathan noticed her saddened expression and felt her pain. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a family either," he stated. He didn't know why he said that. She didn't look quite interested by it so he brushed it off. "Well, what about a friend? You must've gotten yourself in a bad situation. So maybe they can help you out."

"A friend? I have a friend named Sylvia."

"Alright, then let's go find her."

"Oh you can't. We can't see her."

"Why not? She's not in town?"

"She's invisible," she answered, coolly.

Nathan laughed nervously. "Um, did you just say she was invisible?"

She nodded her head excitedly. "Yes. We can't see her at all."

"Oh," he answered. A few seconds ago he was about to pull his cell phone out to give to her so she could call her friend 'Sylvia', but rethought about it. This woman was obviously on the crazy side. She was naked in the middle of the city and had an invisible friend named Sylvia. This was definitely not something he wanted to get involved in. "Well that's great," he added.

"She just left me a while go. She didn't want me to come here, but I didn't want to listen. I was tired of being a sylph. It's not fun flying in the sky all the time, you know," she continued.

_Definitely. Definitely crazy, _Nathan thought. He stepped back a little bit and gave her a convincing smile.

"Oh, it must be hard," he replied, trying his best to converse with the strange woman without looking scared. "I hope you find your way around here then."

He slowly turned around on his heel to make his getaway, but the woman latched onto his wrist, tightly. It was almost too tight that it seemed abnormal for a woman her size. And she was tiny.

"Wait. Are you leaving me?"

Nathan sighed deeply and glanced at the poor woman. "I'm sorry, but like I said, this is how far I can go. I'm sure someone else out there can help you."

"Can't you help me?"

Nathan's jaw clenched and glanced over his shoulder. "Uh . . . I guess."

"Can you say you love me?"

"Huh?"

* * *

><p><strong>So, what did you think? Keep me inspired!<strong>


	3. Three

a/n: it's been a long time since i've updated this story or anything at all. i've been wanting to continue writing this story for a while, but life has caught up with me. i know i put this on a hiatus, but I thought I'd update since this chapter has been sitting in the dust in my documents folder for a while now. I just now finished writing the rest of the chapter, so hopefully those of you who have been waiting for the update will enjoy it. i'm not sure when the next time i'll be updating, but hopefully soon. if i have time between school work and life itself, i'll update. =) so please, be patient with me. thank you!

_**4/25/12: new authors note: I decided to change a little bit of the ending of this chapter. I actually changed a few things in the first 3 chapters. I had a little trouble thinking of a way continue the story with what I had ended up with, so I decide to change a few things to stop my writer's block. So I think it's best to reread it again, to see the changed. And hopefully I will get a chance to update soon!**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3.<strong>

It wasn't a piece of cake for Haley to get to this point of her journey. She struggled for about two hours to three hours. As a sylph, it was easy to prance around an area covered in trees, rocks, and bugs without getting harmed. But in human form, she had the worst experience she ever had.

Her feet were bare, so every step she took, she flinched in pain because of the sharp rocks and twigs on the ground. Not only that, but she was bitten many times by tiny ants after stepping on a giant ant pile. The tree branches weren't exactly her best friends either. Walking through the trees left her with scrapes and scratches over her arms, legs and back. No wonder Nathan thought she'd been through something hectic prior to their meeting at the club.

When she finally reached the city scene of Charlotte, she didn't know what to do with herself. Everything was so bright and vibrant. The beeps of cars and blaring music astounded her, leaving her in complete shock. It wasn't long for people to start staring at her. Some gave her disgusted looks, mainly from women, while the men lost focus on the road as they passed her by - causing mini accidents and swerves on the road. It was probably because Haley was bare naked, clad in nothing but her jeweled necklace around her neck.

She had no clue how to soak it all in. Everyone gave her mixed signals and she wasn't sure if they were good ones or bad ones. But from the way she noticed the look in their eyes, she felt like she was the queen of the world. No one could take their eyes off of her.

It wasn't until she found herself near downtown Charlotte, where everyone in the city were enjoying their alcoholic beverages and electro music, when she felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

They blurted out obscene words that she couldn't understand which made her feel uncomfortable to even move an inch. Even though she had no clue what they were saying, she felt the negative energy coming off of them. The cold breeze didn't help either. She was shivering like a little puppy trapped in the rain. But luckily, someone made her feel safe and warm.

He gave her something that kept the breeze away. And she was amazed by the feel of the fabric and metal sewn into the piece of art she thought it was. She remembered one time, when she watched from above, a man gave a woman a gift and kissed her on the lips. She figured that was love. So she assumed that maybe this man, this human being, probably loved her too.

He was awfully handsome, almost as flawless as Paralda, whom was incredibly gorgeous. She wondered if he had fallen from the sky just like her? But Haley waited patiently for the tall man to answer her question.

Nathan was scared. So scared that he wanted to jet out of there, but her grip was too strong.

"Huh?"

"Do you love me?" she questioned again.

Nathan couldn't get his words out of his mouth. His eyes furrowed, confused on how she came up with such a question.

"Uh, what?"

"Do you love me?" she repeated.

He chuckled nervously. "I'm sorry, ma'm, but I can't say I do. We just met."

"But you gave me this. It's a gift, right?"

He cleared his throat as he glanced down at the grip around his wrist. It seemed like she wasn't going to let him go any time soon.

"Please don't be offended, but it's not a gift. I gave it to you because you're not wearing any clothing."

"Clothing?" she questioned.

She must've been a nudist. A crazy ass nudist. Clothes were like the devil to them. "Right," he mumbled to himself. "Um, we don't walk around naked here. We like to wear clothes." He tugged on the sleeve of his shirt. "That's why I gave you my jacket." He pointed to it.

"So you don't love me?"

"I'm sorry."

Her face fell. Then her grip around his wrist loosened.

He was relieved that she finally let go, but when he observed the disappointment written on her face, he felt bad for rejecting her. But there's no way in hell he was going to say he loved her just to make her feel better. There was definitely something wrong in her head to think she was something called a 'sylph'. Whatever that was.

He felt his phone vibrate, and pulled it out of his pocket. Glancing at it, he noticed that Jay sent him a text. "Where U at?" He didn't respond, but he thought it was a good excuse to leave. He returned his attention back at her.

"Look. I have somewhere to go. But if you know anybody in the area, you should call them." He started digging through his pant pockets and pulled out some change. "Here. There's a pay phone over there that you can use." He pointed behind her.

She furrowed her eyes at his hand that held silver tokens. She tilted her head and picked one up. Then she began observing the engraving of a man's head on it. "Ooh," she awed. "A picture of a human!"

He chuckled. "That's George Washington."

"Who?" she asked.

How could she not know who the first president of America was? Even the mentally ill knew who he was. She was definitely not from this planet.

"He was our first president. Didn't you learn that in school?"

"No, we don't have those kinds of things. We just have air and clouds," she said, happily smelling the quarter.

"Oh," he replied, his eyes looking at her like she was some kind of weirdo. "How old are you?"

She stopped mesmerizing over the coin and started thinking to herself. "I'm five hundred years old," she smiled. "Almost five hundred and one."

He chuckled. "500 years old," he repeated.

"Yep! I'm still young."

"Of course you are," he replied. Yet again, there was another reason to run away as fast as he could. He gently grabbed her other hand and placed the rest of the coins in her palm. "That's enough change for a few phone calls. I'm sure you'll be able to get in touch with someone."

Haley couldn't quite comprehend what he was trying to tell her. Enough change? She's definitely changed. Phone calls? Get in touch with someone? What's that mean?

Nathan nodded his head as he stepped back slowly. "So um, I'm going to go now." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "Hopefully everything goes well with you. Bye," he sang.

She played with the coins in her hand and looked up at him as he smiled half heartedly at her. He pushed his cap down and turned around on his heel. Then he quickly tucked his hands in his pockets and swiftly walked the other direction, leaving the lonesome girl alone in the middle of downtown.

Haley watched him quickly leave, briefly looking over his shoulder a few times before he finally disappeared around the corner. She wasn't sure what to do next. He said something about a pay phone, but she was lost and didn't know what he was talking about. He was her only hope. So she followed him.

* * *

><p>"Nathan's been out for a long time," Jay stated, shuffling a deck of cards.<p>

Le reached over the table to grab himself a handful of peanuts from a can. Trent popped open another soda bottle from the fridge and said, "He must've went to the bar."

For the past hour they've been playing card games. They wanted to stay up until Nathan came back to the hotel. They weren't just his band mates, they were his best friends. So of course they were going to be worried about him.

"But if he's not back after one more game, I'm hittin' the hay," said Trent, sipping from his bottle of soda.

"Why don't we just call him?" Le mumbled as he chewed the peanuts in his mouth.

Trent lightly slapped Jay on the shoulder. "You call 'em," he ordered, sluggishly.

Jay rolled his eyes and immediately pulled his phone out and speed dialed Nathan's number. After several rings, there was no answer. So instead, Jay texted him by asking him when he was coming back to the hotel.

"I guess I can understand where he's coming from. Things haven't been easy on him lately," Jay proclaimed, putting his phone away and finally dealing out the cards to each of his band members. "After his scandal a couple weeks ago and getting a law suit against him, I would want to be alone too."

"If only he told us why he hit the man," Trent stated. "He hasn't told us anything about it besides the fact that the guy was a jackass."

"A rich jack ass," Le corrected. "He was the CEO of another music label. I wouldn't have done something like that to someone like him."

"He wouldn't have done it if there wasn't a reason," Jay stated as he stopped dealing the cards and placed the rest of the deck in the center of the table.

"Well, it doesn't matter to me. I'm on Nate's side on this. Whatever the reason, I'm going to support him, except when he decides to run off in the middle of the night like tonight," Trent complained, looking at his cards. "I'm not staying up like this again."

"One more game because I'm getting hella tired. Please," Le begged.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Jay replied as he looked at Trent. "You got any twos?"

"Gold fish!"

Moments later, they heard the door open from down the tiny hall. All their heads turned in the direction of the sound and found an exhausted Nathan taking a step inside.

"Where the hell have you been, fool?" Trent questioned, placing his cards down and standing up to talk to him.

Le quickly traded a few of Trent's cards with his before returning his gaze back at the door.

"I grabbed a few drinks and then I took a walk," Nathan managed to share, closing the door behind him. He removed his shoes one by one before tossing them at a corner. He took his cap off, placing it inside the closet, and dragged his feet towards the other room.

"From where? Cuba?" Trent spluttered, following the fellow drummer.

"How much did you drink?" Jay asked. Instead of dropping his cards on the table like Trent did, he tucked them in his pocket. He saw what Le did earlier. He wasn't stupid. The game was just starting.

Nathan scratched the nape of his neck as he reached the edge of his bed. He thought about the psycho woman he met earlier. Maybe he drank more than he had expected and dreamt about the girl. It could have been a hallucination. Seriously, who runs around naked in the middle of the city anyways? Crazy people. That's for sure.

"More than enough I suppose," he answered, pulling his covers off his bed.

"Well, glad you're safe. We wouldn't want anything to happen to our drummer."

"Too late for that," he mumbled. "But could you hold more of your questions for later? I need to get some rest. It's been a long day." He climbed inside his bed and laid comfortably on the fluffed pillows.

Trent chuckled. "Hold our questions for later? This aint no press conference. This is us asking where the hell you were."

As he was just about to shut his eyes, Jay managed to ask one last question.

"Didn't you leave with a jacket on?"

It didn't hit him at first, but when he rethought about the question, he realized that the answer was yes. It wasn't a hallucination after all. She was real.

* * *

><p>Haley frowned as she started itching her leg. There was a swollen red circle near her knee where a mosquito bit her earlier. She didn't think nature could be so cruel to her after all she's done to make it live this long.<p>

"Mosquitoes, I demand you to stop biting me!" she cried out, in the wee hours of the morning.

People who were rushing to work walked passed her with looks of disgust, shock and confusion. Some even laughed and spat out a few insults at her. She ignored it and leaned back against the brick wall.

Last night, after her tall, dark, and handsome savior left her to fend for herself, she followed him. She followed him all the way to the hotel where he was staying. It wasn't a long walk. The bar was just a few blocks away. But it was confusing to understand the function of the streets. There were lights and signs that pointed in different directions. Multiple colors of green, yellow and red appeared above her a few times . It was like a colorful version of lightning flashing in the clouds, she thought. And she had no clue what any of it meant.

When he reached his hotel, she couldn't follow him any further. He disappeared through some revolving doors which, in fact, amazed Haley once again. She attempted to go through them, but she stepped away in fright. She was afraid to get hurt or stuck inside. So she decided to wait outside for him until he returned.

She didn't sleep one minute the whole night. Her body wasn't fully human, so she still had the energy of a sylph. They never slept. The only disadvantage of her new form was the fact that she was now vulnerable to physical pain. But once she begins to gain the soul of a human, her body would be able to endure everything that a human being experiences.

"Ah," she complained, scratching her leg excessively causing the area to become raw. It began to sting. It was something that she never felt before. It was a burning sensation as if her leg was on fire. And this was just a tiny little mosquito bite. Something a human was completely used to.

She winced at the pain and stopped scratching her skin off. Letting out a sigh, she tucked her legs underneath her and started playing with the metal zipper of the jacket. Then she heard a few honks and cries in front of her. She glanced up, only to find people sticking their heads out of their vehicles and whistling at her. All she could do was smile in response. Then she returned to the revolving doors and waited for the capped stranger to walked out of there. Not once did she recognize anybody who appeared from it. It's not like she knew exactly what he looked like. He kept trying to cover his face the whole time, but she caught a few basic features to help her.

"Get some damn clothes, lady! You're making the street look dirty!" a female voice spat out as they passed her up.

Haley looked up at the woman. "I'm not dirty!" she cried out.

She heard the woman guffaw before continuing down the sidewalk without looking back. "My ass!"

"Huh?" Haley furrowed her eyes at the last few words and tried to understand it. Nothing seemed to make sense. Ass? Wasn't that a donkey? I don't see any donkeys around here, she though. But then she heard a roar of screams and feet stomping from behind her. She turned around and found a sea of humans holding up signs like the ones she saw the other day filled with neon colors and sayings.

"AHHHHHH THEY'RE HERE!" they all screamed as they practically surrounded the entire front of the building. She could hardly see the doors anymore. And she couldn't let that happen. She needed to make sure she saw her savior before he left. She didn't want him to disappear.

She continued to observe everyone crowding and jumping up against each other. Every single one of them were covered in some type of colored fabric from head to toe. Their feet, legs and torso were completely clothed. Glancing down at her own body, she knew she was out of place. That's what he was talking about last night. She wanted what they had. But she had to find her savior first so he could help her out. He was the only nice one she's met so far. Every one else looked at her strangely or yelled her in the most impolite manner. Besides, she wanted to fulfill her duty of making someone fall in love with her fast and he seemed to be the right candidate for that.

She strode towards the crowd in order to get nearer to the door. The screams grew louder and louder. She tried to squeeze through, but people began to push her roughly to the side.

"EW! GET AWAY!" one girl cried out. "Put some clothes on!"

"I need to see someone," Haley replied innocently.

"NO WAY! We were here first!" a pair of red headed twins snapped in unison.

"But I need to see him!" Haley whined. "He needs to fall in love with me!"

A dark haired woman scoffed. "I don't know which one you're referring to, but I'm pretty sure we all want him to fall in love with us. So back off, ya bum!" She shoved Haley backwards, causing her to stumble and fall down hard on the ground. The pain was shocking. She never expected to be pushed and shoved in such a manner like this as a human being.

* * *

><p>"Oh Haleyah," Sylvia whispered, watching her from across the street. "I told you this wasn't going to be easy."<p>

It was hard to watch her best friend get tortured by a bunch of mortals who thought they were better than her. Like she said before, Haley didn't know anything about them. They were torturous, cruel and selfish creatures. At least that's what Sylvia believed.

She continued to observe the way the girls who were looking at Haley with disgust and shook her head. The pitiful blonde was biting her lip as she if she was holding back the tears building in her eyes. Haley's never endured the feeling of sadness before, at least not to this extent. And that angered Sylvia. She had no other choice but to use her strength to avenge the vicious girls.

Sylvia opened her palms and started moving them in circles as if she was gathering air in her hands. As soon as it looked like she accumulated enough, she raised her arms above her head and jolted her hands forward in the direction of the crowd. A gust of wind immediately pushed the four girls against everyone in front of them, their posters stuck to their faces like leaches. The wind was so strong, they couldn't control their balance. It made the girls and the people surrounding them fall like a cluster of bowling pins.

Sylvia chortled as the girls fell on top of each other. "Fools," she spat out. She glanced at Haley who was still bewildered and hurt, and swiftly flew over to her. She stood there for a moment, observing the tears falling down her cheeks and simply whispered some advice in her ear. "You can always come back."

Haley snapped her head in the direction of the voice and whispered, "Sylvia?" But there was nothing in sight. A slight breeze grazed against her arm before it slowly disappeared.

Come back? I'm not going back, she thought. I'm not going to give up on being human. I'm never going to give up.

The screams grew louder and louder. She glanced back at the crowd and saw flashes of light bursting from different directions like bolts of lightning coming from objects a few people were holding. Then she heard the chant again. The one from the other day. TRENT! JAY! LE! NATHAN!

She quickly lifted herself up off the floor and watched as the crowd began to reshape itself . They all moved together as if they were a school of fish following their mother. Then she noticed a vehicle waiting at the end of the sidewalk. It was black. It was a type of transportation that the humans used. At least that's what she observed when she was watching them from above.

Haley craned her neck to look in between people's heads and found a few men walking towards the car. She squinted her eyes in order to get a good look of the faces, but couldn't figure out what they looked like. But then a gust of wind managed to blow one of the guy's hats off their heads, causing it to land in front of the car, near her. The crowd roared. A large man ,dressed in black, immediately stretched his arms out to the people as if he was about to give him a huge embrace. He was trying to keep them away from the hat so the young man could quickly pick it up.

As he hurriedly walked over to grab his cap, Haley tilted her head to capture a glimpse of his face. She couldn't really recognize him, but from the shape of his lips and the perfect lining of his jaw, she knew it was him. It had to be.

The guy placed his cap back on his head and gave her one look. She smiled at him. He didn't think much of it and turned back around. The large man quickly guided him inside the car and shut the door. And a few seconds later, the vehicle began to move.

Her eyes moved with it and observed his silhouette through the dark tinted windows as it crossed her path. She knew it was her savior. It had to be. It just had to be.

"Wait!" she cried out. She tried to chase after it, but the crowd moved towards her direction. And she found herself stuck in between people as they pushed and shoved her. "Wait!" she managed to exclaim faintly.

She tried her best to pass through the moving bodies, but they kept stepping on her bare feet. She winced at the pain every time they planted their foot on hers. It reminded her so much of her journey through the woods. The twigs and rocks, especially the insects biting and munching on her skin. It was miserable. But compared to that experience, a shoe slamming against her feet was worse. No, a two inch heel was the WORST of the WORST.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" she belted out.

She bent down to grab her injured foot and peered through the gaps between people's heads. She was expecting to see the familiar black car there, but to her dismay, it was gone. Soon enough, the obnoxious crowd of shameless people began to disperse, leaving her in agony and sorrow.

"Great!" she groaned. "Now I have to find someone else to fall in love with me."

* * *

><p>Nathan sighed deeply as he gazed out the window. With a furrowed brow, he thought about the woman he just saw in front of the hotel. She was wearing his jacket that he gave her. How did she know where I was? I told her to use the change I gave her to call a friend. Why didn't she use it?<p>

Last night was a weird night for him. First of all, he was ambushed by some psycho man on stage that ruined their very first performance in six months. Then he saved a bare naked woman after taking some time to think for himself, only to find out that she was in her own little world. The things she said didn't even make any sense to him. She said she was five hundred years old and had a friend they couldn't see. She was strange. Really strange. He had a slight feeling that something must've happened in the outskirts of town. Because obviously a few patients escaped the looney bin.

"You okay over there?" Jay questioned, nudging Nathan in the rib.

He glanced his way and flashed a halfhearted smile. "Yeah," he answered. "Wher-"

Just as he was about to start a new sentence, his phone began to ring. He quickly pulled his cell out of his pocket and read the screen. It was their manager, Thompson, calling. He immediately answered.

"Thomspon, hey," he greeted.

"Hey Nate, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine. We're heading to the studio right now."

"That's good, that's good. . . . Um. . About the studio . . . ."

Nathan could hear the uncertainty in Thompson's voice. "What?"

"I just wanted to let you know something before you get here."

"And what's that?"

"There's a few people here from Tempo Records." Nathan immediately reverted back to that incident. It made him cringe. "… and they're here to settle an agreement with the law suit," Thompson answered.

"An agreement? I'm not agreeing to anything. I -"

"I know, I know, Nate. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time. So you wouldn't be surprised to see them here," Thompson cut in.

"Is he going to be there?"

"No, he's currently on bed rest."

"For Christ's sake!" Nathan exclaimed angrily, leaning his head back against the seat.

"What? Are you surprised? You practically killed the man!"

"That's one thing people need to understand.. I didn't kill him."

The rest of his band members turned their heads in Nathan's direction, aware of the conversation.

"Good thing you didn't or else matters would be a lot worse than it is."

"I know."

"Look, we're going to straighten things up for you. This will all eventually disappear and become part of the past. Just one step at a time," Thompson spoke.

"Yeah," Nathan answered, practically sighing.

"So just come to the studio and meet with them. Be calm and collected. Don't get angry or anything. This could be a good thing. I'm not going to encourage you to let go of your pride, but do what you think is best for the band and the music label. Okay? Whatever your reasons were, think of everyone else in this situation. Just talk to them, that's all. So don't make a big fuss when you get here, okay?"

Nathan was silent.

"Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it," he finally answered.

"Alright, I'll see you guys in a bit."

They both exchanged goodbyes before hanging up. He placed his phone in his lap as his band mates waited patiently for him to talk about what was going on.

"So ….?" Trent questioned.

"People from Tempo Records are at the studio," Nathan answered.

"Seriously?" Le blurted out, crushed peanut spewing out of his mouth. He turned around in his seat to talk to Nathan in the back.

"Yeah. They want to talk about the law suit. If they want me to confess that it was my fault for doing what I did , just to clear this whole controversy, I'm not going to agree to that. I'm not."

"So what are you going to agree to?" Trent asked, turning his head as well.

"I want him to tell the truth."

"And what's that , Nate?" Jay inquired. "You still haven't told us the whole story. So what is it?"

Nathan took a moment to glance at each pair of eyes around him and contemplated whether the story should even be told. Deciding whether to speak about the truth or not was a struggle every day. There was a reason why he didn't want to talk about it. But it would definitely help straighten up this whole scandal if he did reveal what really happened. The media wouldn't be so hard on the rest of his band members. But even if he did tell the truth, he wouldn't have enough evidence to prove his side of the story. There was no use of saying it if he wasn't going to win in the end. The other set of eyes that day could no longer be found. Besides, this man, Mr. Robertson, was a multi-millionaire. He could do what he wanted, when he wanted it. And Nathan chose to beat the living daylights out of him. Of all people, it had to be him. Although Mr. Robertson had a lot more power than him, he wasn't going to just give in and let him win.

"I can't," Nathan replied.

* * *

><p>Haley frowned as she walked the streets of the city. She held the stone tightly against her chest, wishing that someone, anyone, would approach her and fall madly in love with her like she wanted. Her mission to make her savior say those three simple words was slim to none now that he was completely gone from her sight. She had no clue where he could be especially since it was a lot harder to travel by foot than it was to fly over the clouds.<p>

"Paralda, why couldn't you have made this a lot easier for me by just turning me human," she complained, stomping her feet in the process.

"Wait, wait, cab driver!" a woman cried out in front of her, her free arm flailing in the air while the other one was dragging a halfway zipped luggage. A couple pieces of clothes were practically sticking out from it, waiting to fall out.

Haley stopped in her tracks, observing the enthusiasm in the woman and watched as she quickly climbed in the back of the yellow car. Shutting the door behind her, the vehicle jetted back on to the road, making her leave a piece of clothing on the sidewalk.

The pixie-looking blonde strode forward to grab the pinkish beige laced dress from the ground. She admired the beauty of the fabric just like she did with the leather jacket her savior had given her, and smoothed it over her cheek.

"Wow!" she gasped, feeling the silkiness of the dress. "So soft!"

She held it in her hands, unaware of how to put it on, and observed the people surrounding her. She was standing around the business area of the city where everyone wore business suits and skirts. They weren't exactly giving her polite looks either, but she wasn't worried about that. All she needed to understand was how to wear the dress.

A dark haired woman walked out of a building across the street sporting dark blue outfit. It had the same shape as Haley's. The top part was sleeveless with a gemmed neck line and the bottom was slightly flowy for leg movement. She glanced at the piece of clothing in her hands and then back to the woman's dress. She continued to do that in order to study where she was supposed to put her arms, head and legs. Then suddenly the woman raised her arm up, making a yellow cab show up before her, and she disappeared inside of it before the car jetted off.

"So they have powers too!" Haley smiled, remembering how sylphs always raised their hands to make wind, rain and etc. So she figured they made yellow cars come to them if they just raised their arms too.

Her eyes reverted back to the dress in her hands. She thumbed the fabric in satisfaction and decided to try to put it on. While standing at a corner of the street, she removed the leather jacket from her body, exposing herself to the people surrounding her. They all gasped in shock. She heard a few clinking-clanking sounds and glanced down at the silver coins falling out of the jacket.

"Close your eyes, honey!" a woman cried out.

Haley glanced in the direction of the voice and found a mother covering the eyes of her child. She smiled happily at them, but yet again, she was given a dirty look. She pouted and returned her gaze at the dress. She opened the bottom of it and slid it over her head.

"This is a public area, lady!"

"Go somewhere else to change!"

" I'll buy you dinner!"

"WHAT THE HELL?"

That's all she heard as she struggled to wear the rest of the dress. She was practically stuck inside of it just trying to find access to the arm and head openings. But soon enough, after fighting her way out of it, she finally put the dress on. There was just one problem. She was wearing it backwards. She thought the tag was for decoration. She didn't know that she put it on the wrong way.

Haley pulled the necklace out from under the dress and placed it above the fabric. Then she bent down to grab the jacket and wore it over her dress. She was now fully clothed like the rest of the humans surrounding her. She jumped in glee and heard the clanking sound of tokens in the pocket of the jacket. She immediately remembered to pick the rest of the coins off the floor.

After placing the coins back in the pocket, she twirled around in happiness and found her reflection in the tinted glass window of the building behind her. Her eyes widened at the sight of herself. She was surprised by her own image. For the first time, she actually looked like she was one of them.

* * *

><p>He gazed at the man and woman sitting across the table from him. They had very stern, uneasy expressions on their faces. It was probably because they were nervous but determined to settle an agreement with Nathan. Something that would benefit their side of the situation and save their careers if they succeeded. But if they weren't able to achieve their goal, Mr. Robertson would probably fire their asses right off the bat and hire another pair to make a better bargain.<p>

The man had on a pair of thick framed glasses and a navy blue suit with no tie. The woman had her hair up in a bun, perfectly pinned and hair sprayed to where it looked like it was painted on her head. She also wore a similar suit as the man.

"So Mr. Scott, I believe you understand why we're here," the uptight woman spoke. "So let's begin discussing how we can settle your whole predicament with Mr. Robertson."

"Go right ahead," Nathan responded coldly.

They could tell that he wasn't interested in having this conversation with them, but they weren't going to let it faze them.

"Well, from the papers we filed against you, it looks like Mr. Robertson charged you with battery. He accused you of intentionally punching him multiple times in the face area until he was knocked out, unconscious. He also charged you with verbal abuse. You threatened to kill him if he was ever in your sight."

He scoffed. "So he's basically saying that this was all of my doing. And that he didn't provoke me at all?"

"That's what he wrote down on the papers," said the man.

Nathan laced his fingers together and leaned forward in his seat. He darted his eyes at the two sitting in front of him. "Of course. You're on his side so you think he's the victim in this. But has he told you the whole story? Because if he hasn't, I'll be happy to tell you," he stated, politely.

"In fact, Mr. Scott, he did tell us the whole story which is why we're here. He brought us over to negotiate an agreement to keep your mouth shut."

"Wow," he cooed sarcastically. "You know the story and you're still on his side? What kind of lawyers are you?"

"We're not lawyers, Mr. Scott," the woman corrected. "We just work for Mr. Robertson. We're in charge of correcting all of his legal problems. And this situation was definitely a major legal problem."

"So you're like his hit men?" Nathan questioned.

"No, Mr. Scott. We are not hit men. We're his personal secretaries."

"I see. He hires people to fix his dirty work. Nice jobs you have there."

They both glared at him, the girl in particular gave him the meanest sneer.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Scott. We're not here to listen to you mock us. We're here because we revved up a solution to resolve this whole situation," the woman stated through her teeth.

"And what's that?"

"He's offering you a quarter of a million dollars to seal your lips about what happened that night."

Nathan let out a dry laugh and furrowed a brow at them. "Are you serious? You're offering me money to shut me up?"

They both nodded.

"If you've forgotten, I'm already making money. Besides, money's not going to fix this. The truth will. And I'm not going to give up on that. So go ahead and charge me with battery. But the truth will always be there. Just you wait and see. It will all unravel soon."

The woman sighed heavily. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get through to Nathan.

"You seriously don't care if you're charged with anything or sent to prison?"

Nathan had to think twice about that. Maybe being silent wasn't such a good idea if the consequence was jail time. But considering the damage he had done, it wasn't enough to put him in prison. Maybe some community service but not jail time. He wanted to protect someone. He wasn't going to let money resolve the issue.

"I'm just going to give you one last chance to take the offer. We'll make it half a million if you just settle with this negotiation. Because if you do, we'll lift the charges off of you, and you'll be done! You won't have to worry about anything else anymore."

"So if I don't agree, I should be worried, right? Is that what you're telling me?"

The woman stared at him blankly and clasped her hands together. "Mr. Scott, we're trying to make everything better for both of you and Mr. Robertson. It will clear everyone's plates. The media will back off and we can tell the world that we've settled the issue."

"With money," Nathan corrected. "If that ever gets out, then what will the media say then?"

"See, you don't understand Mr. Scott. We're paying you to_ shut up._ To not say a word about anything that happened. Not a thing. Not even the money. It will never go out to the public. It will only be between the three of us and Mr. Robertson," the man spoke.

Nathan scoffed at the man's tone. He was practically gritting his teeth. "So we're just going to pretend to be chummy with each other as if nothing had happened at all? That's bull shit. BULL. SHIT!" Nathan exclaimed. "I'm not going to pretend to like that man. I am not. Especially not in the public." He was angry. He was fuming. To think that he was going to reconcile with this Mr. Robertson disgusted him. And in public? How could he do that to person he was supposed to protect? That would only hurt them even more.

The woman ignored his attitude and waited a few seconds before saying, "So is that a no?"

"I don't know, did it sound like it was?" Nathan replied obnoxiously.

"I guess so."

Nathan observed them as they both began to gather all their material. It wasn't long until Nathan reached his boiling point.

"You know, you two disgust me," Nathan spat out. "You know the truth. You know it! But you still ask me to keep my mouth shut just so you won't get fired from your fucking job. Just because he's a multi-millionaire, you feel like you should do whatever you can to feel accepted in his eyes. Especially_ you_," he directed his attention to the woman. "Do you have any respect for yourself at all? Aren't you ashamed of this?"

The woman stiffened. Nathan could tell that he finally hit a sensitive spot. It was obvious that he finally cracked a little bit of her shell. But she ignored his sharp stare and gathered her things from the table.

"I do respect myself, Mr. Scott. But it looks like you've made your decision for the moment. So we'll be making our exit. I'm sure we will be back to make another deal that you can accept," she stated as she stood up from her chair. The man did the same.

"No matter what you do, I'm going to find the truth and _he_ will be in jail," Nathan stated.

But before following his partner out the door, the guy took a moment to reply to Nathan. "Then we're going to work just as hard to prevent that from happening," he spoke strongly. "You know guy who hopped on that stage yesterday? He wasn't just anybody."

"Let's go!" the woman snapped furiously as she signaled him to get out .

Nathan sat there puzzled, wrinkles forming on his forehead as he watched them walk out of the room. He sat there, contemplating what he meant by that. All the theories of how the man managed to ruin their performance began to run through his mind. He remembered how Le said he didn't remember seeing him hop on stage. He must've walked in from the back.

_Someone must've gave him access to the stage._

* * *

><p>Haley shifted her position on the brick ledge at the local park. Her feet were so sore from walking and being trampled by evil heels that she just had to sit and rest. She had been walking for a couple of hours, observing every little thing around her to understand how it all worked. But it was all too overwhelming that her head began to spin.<p>

"Hmph," she moaned, swinging her bare feet forward. "Stone, can't you lead me to the person who can help me?" she questioned, holding the necklace in her hands. "There are so many people in this world that it's hard for me to choose just one. I want to find a good heart so I can be a kind human because I really don't want to be an evil human. But I guess if I did manage to get an evil heart, I'll actually have a soul. An evil soul is better than no soul. Right?"

She grazed her thumb over the cuts of the dull, dark crystal that hung from the golden chain around her neck. She wondered when it would ever tell her if she was doing anything right. Making another human fall in love with her didn't sound like such a hard task to do. It seemed so simple. Find a man, make him fall madly in love with her and wait for him to confess his feelings. That's all she needed to do to become human. There were no other tasks that Paralda ordered. That was all of it and nothing more. But the moment she took her very first step in her human façade, it was more than what she had bargained for.

Suddenly, there was a roar of familiar screams coming from behind her. Haley turned her head to find what the whole commotion was about and found a crowd of screaming girls in front of the building that read Music Hall. Big posters of neon colors and dark letters swung in the air as the girls formed a gap for the entrance when a white bus arrived.

She watched carefully to see what was going on. Then soon the bus door opened and four tall, handsome men walked out wearing white suits and black pants. One looked like a girl with a pony tail, another had hair above his lip, the third one looked extremely beautiful, while the last one . . . the last one was her one and only savior. Her eyes immediately widened as soon as she realized who it was.

"YOU!" She quickly jumped off the ledge and started running towards the guys by the bus. "WAIT!"

The other members ignored it, thinking it was just a crazy fan, but Nathan stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard her voice. He looked up and found the girl from last night running recklessly across the street. Oh no. What the hell is she doing now? Doesn't she know there's on-coming traffic?

"Wait!" she called out again as cars began to beep at her. "I need to talk to you!"

"Oh man, " he whispered as he observed the woman. She looked different from yesterday. Maybe it was the outfit that she was now wearing. She looked less insane now that she was fully clothed.

"Nate, you know her?" Jake questioned as their security guards began guiding them away from the scene and into the theatre.

"Uh, no," Nathan answered, continuously looking at her over his shoulder.

"Come on, guys, you need to get prepared," Bull, their primary body guard stated.

He continued to watch her as she made it halfway off the road. She looked scared and frightened as the cars beeped and swerved around her. Something about her reminded him of someone. Someone close to him. It felt odd. He had this distinct feeling that he needed to help her in some way. He didn't know why, but she kept showing up.

Just as they were about to enter the doors of the Music Hall, Nathan took one last glance back at her and noticed one of the security guards dragging her off the street for her own safety. He was relieved to see that someone took the decency to protect the girl because if no one took action, he was going to do it himself.

"Hurry inside," Bull stated again as he pushed all the fans away from the band members.

* * *

><p>"Ma'm, you okay?" the security guard questioned as he waved at the cars to move along. "You could've gotten yourself killed. I know you're a big fan of Stained Heart, but sometimes you have to think of yourself."<p>

Haley furrowed her eyes at the furry faced man. That's what Paralda told her before she left. _You must only think of yourself. _That's exactly what she was doing. At least that's what she believed. She wanted to be human and she was going to do all she could to get that soul. _  
><em>

"I need him to love me," she mumbled.

"Don't they all?" the security guard stated, shaking his head. "You fan girls really need to find yourself a real man to love you. I know you all are bat crazy over all these _boys bands,_ but they are stars. They are hard to reach. They're not normal human beings."

Haley listened carefully, but didn't say a word. She was too mesmerized by the large picture of the band members posted on the exterior of the building. The security guard scratched the nape of his neck at the awkward silence and walked away. She continued to stare up at the poster as she slowly walked towards it. Haley's eyes were fixed directly at Nathan's face. He wasn't smiling in it, but it didn't make him any less handsome. She was so amazed by the photo that she reached up to touch it, checking if he was really up there. To her dismay, it wasn't real at all. She frowned and reverted back to what the security guard was saying. _They are stars. They are hard to reach. They're not normal human beings. _

"He's not normal?" she mumbled to herself. "_But I want to be normal._"

She sighed deeply after realizing that she couldn't have his soul since it wasn't normal. He seemed like he'd be the perfect match, but she was wrong. Turning around, she found a couple of people still standing outside the building with their colorful signs. She heard one of the girls compliment another girl's shoes and the girl began pointing her foot out to show them off. Haley tilted her head, observing the girls and pointed her own foot out. When she did that, she noticed how dirty it was, filled with bruices and scratches,and how naked they looked compared to theirs.

_Hmph. I need some of those. Shoes? Didn't they say they were shoes? _

Immediately, a content smile appeared on her lips and she looked back at the group of girls. She quickly walked over to them and pointed at their feet. They all glanced at her, wondering why the hell she was doing pointing at the ground. "I want those," she stated.

"Huh?" one girl responded.

"Sh-sh-shoes?" Haley replied hesitantly. She didn't want to say the word wrong. "I want it."

"What? You can't have my shoes. They're mine," the girl snapped. "Go buy some at the shoe store."

"Hmm?" Haley questioned, looking at them without a clue what they were talking about.

"There's one around the corner. You can get them there," the girl advised, trying her best to shoo her away.

"Really? Around the corner?" Haley replied with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah," they answered. Once Haley turned her head around, the girls immediately dashed away, running from her sight. They already felt the crazy vibe from her the moment she walked over to them, so they sped away as soon as they could.

"There?" Haley questioned pointing at the corner, but when she turned back around, she noticed the girls were already halfway across the street. She frowned and looked back at the corner. She decided to take the girl's advice and go there. When she did, she found the large bus from earlier. She looked at it carefully, thinking that maybe that was the "shoe store". As she continued walking, she noticed the bus door was opened. The driver had left for a few seconds to grab a drink from the vending machine inside and forgot to shut the door. Haley peeked through and entered the bus. She's never seen anything like it before. There were seats, tables, beds, curtains, cupboards, food, and other things that were in a typical tour bus. Haley continued to look around, awing at little items she found and made her way to the back of the bus. She pulled the curtains to the side and found a set of bunk beds. They were all unkempt and filled with little items that belonged to the band members.

She picked up one of the pillows and held it in her arms. "WOW!" she gasped. "It's like cotton!" Haley squeezed it even tighter and placed her face against it. It was as soft as the dress she was wearing. Then all of a sudden she heard voices from outside the bus. She stopped holding the pillow and looked towards the entrance.

"Wait, I forgot to lock it," someone stated as they walked inside. Haley immediately hopped into one of the bunks to hide herself. She peeked out for a little bit and watched as a middle aged man grab something from the steering wheel. He pulled out a set of keys and paused for a moment. There was a slight feeling he knew someone was inside the bus. So he stood quietly, turning on his heel, to look to straight down the aisles. Haley immediately hid back inside the bunk. The driver noticed the curtain at the back was opened. His eyes furrowed and shook his head. "Maybe the guys forgot to close it," he stated and walked out the door.

Haley could hear something close and a click a few seconds after. She figured he left, so she climbed out of the bunk bed. As she stepped back on the floor, she found a pair of shoes on the ground. They looked similar to what some of the people were walking around in. So she placed her feet inside one by one. She smiled happily as she finally put them on. They were a pair of Nathan's Nike sneakers which were a lot larger than hers. She had no clue it had to actually fit. And so she began testing them out by walking up and down the aisle of the bus. Sometimes her feet would slip out, but she'd place them back in, even if they were on the wrong foot. Since they kept slipping out, she dragged them along the floor.

When she was finally content about her new shoes, she dragged her feet back to the place where she entered. But to her surprise, the door was now closed. She furrowed her eyes and tried to push the door open, but it wouldn't budge. She began to panic and started hitting the door aimlessly.

"Why isn't this opening?" she questioned herself. "Open!" she cried out as she kicked the door. "Open I said!

* * *

><p><strong>what do you think? keep me inspired.<strong>


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